"Vital Signs" is a song by

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

trio Rush from their 8th studio album '' Moving Pictures''. The lyrics of the song are about individuality and the pressures of conforming. The song is heavily influenced by

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

(in the guitar riff) as well as progressive

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

(in its use of sequencers) and the music of

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

. These influences would carry on into their next three studio albums: ''

Signals In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

'', '' Grace Under Pressure'', and ''

Power Windows Power windows or electric windows are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by pressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a crank handle. History Packard had introduced hydraulic window lifts (power windows) in fall of ...

''. The song was released as a single in the U.K. peaking at No 41. Also, a live version of "Vital Signs" appeared as the B-side to Rush's "

New World Man "New World Man" is a hit single from the 1982 album '' Signals'' by Canadian rock band Rush. The song was the last and most quickly composed song on the album, stemming from a suggestion by then-Rush producer Terry Brown to even out the lengths ...

" single in 1982 (Mercury #76179, US edition). It has appeared in Rush's set lists as recently as the 2010–2011

Time Machine Tour The Time Machine Tour was a concert tour by the Canadian rock band Rush that began on June 29, 2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and ended July 2, 2011 at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. The tour was notable for featuring the album ...

(documented on '' Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland''), during which ''Moving Pictures'' was played in its entirety. It is also noted for being played during the encore of the Grace Under Pressure Tour (documented on the ''Grace Under Pressure Tour Live'' album and

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

Reception

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

'' readers voted "Vital Signs" the 37th best Rush song.

References

1980 songs Rush (band) songs Music videos directed by Bruce Gowers Song recordings produced by Terry Brown (record producer) Songs written by Neil Peart Songs written by Geddy Lee Songs written by Alex Lifeson 1982 singles Mercury Records singles Reggae rock songs Canadian new wave songs {{1980s-rock-song-stub

Reception

See also

References